Strawberry Lime Cookie Cake

After watching “French Food at Home” on Cooking Channel, I was inspired to make a vegan version of the almond meringue cake with peaches (see Cooking Channel TV for the recipe). My version? A strawberry lime cookie cake, made with shortbread cookies, lime icing, sliced strawberries and chopped pecans. Delicious.

Shortbread Cookie (Adapted from Alicia Silverstone’s The Kind Diet)

1 ½ c. whole wheat flour
1 ½ c. unbleached all purpose flour
1 t. baking powder
½ c. safflower oil
2/3 c. agave nectar
1 t. vanilla extract
1 t. almond extract
1 t. sea salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  In a separate bowl, combine all wet ingredients. Slowly mix dry with wet ingredients, until the dough just holds together. The mixture will be crumbly, but if you think it needs a bit more liquid, add a bit more oil. Separate the dough into two balls and place on a parchment lined baking sheet (you will need one tray for each ball of dough). Press dough firmly until you have one circle, approximately 9 inches in diameter, for each ball of dough. These two circles will serve as the “cake.” Place in oven and bake for 10-15 minutes, until the edges are a light golden brown.

NOTE: This cookie will not be extremely sweet. This is a good thing, because the icing is extremely sugary and compliments the cookie nicely.

Lime Icing (I didn’t exactly measure this out, so here are my approximations)

½ c. Earth Balance Butter, softened
4 c. powdered sugar
Juice and zest of 1 small lime

In a large bowl, beat butter until creamy. Add zest and juice and combine. Slowly add powdered sugar and beat until all sugar is incorporated and the mixture has become light and fluffy.

Topping

1 lb. fresh strawberries, thinly sliced
½ c. chopped pecans

Once the cookies have cooled, frost the top of each cookie with icing and cover with sliced strawberries. Stack the two disks on top of each other and spread icing around the edges. Take chopped pecans and press around the edges.

NOTE: You may want to allow this to sit for about 10 minutes, so the bottom cookie has a chance to soften a bit. The cookies will be a bit hard to cut, but it is much easier to do with the help of a serrated knife.

Enjoy!